Arctic EIA workshop, Dec 11-12, 2017

REXSAC researchers to participate in the workshop: Tomorrow’s Arctic EIA: Nordic possibilities and perspectives to Environmental Impact Assessments in the Arctic. The workshop is held at Santa’s Hotel Santa Claus in Rovaniemi, Finland on  the 11th-12th of December.

The Arctic is facing a number of interrelated challenges, e.g. how escalating climate change and increased economic activity create multiple and cumulative pressures on land use and mounting conflicts between different interests. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) comprises one of the essential regulatory tools to address these issues and to ensure that planning is sustainable in the long term. However, are the specific features of the Arctic taken sufficiently into consideration in EIAs? Could methods to assess cumulative impacts be improved? Is there enough attention to social and cultural implications and rights of indigenous communities in new projects?

Such questions will be addressed in the workshop which is convened by Arctic Council’s project: Good Practice Recommendations for Environmental Impact Assessment and Public Participation in the Arctic (Arctic EIA). It is an endorsed project of the Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic Council. Arctic EIA project is led by the Ministry of the Environment of Finland.

The workshop will look for and share good practices from the Nordic countries and contribute to the process of formulating good practice recommendations for EIA and public participation in the Arctic. It will also contribute to the creation of a network of Arctic EIA actors. REXSAC is being represented by Annika Nilsson,Kaisa Raitio, Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, Ninis Rosqvist, Niila Inga and Teresa Komu.

Image: Santa’s Hotel Santa Claus website

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